Spartan Profiles: Jason Teshuba

MANGO LANGUAGES

            To learn a foreign language, you can buy sets of tapes or CDs.  Or, as of September, you can visit Mangolanguages.com—and learn foreign languages online, for free.  The site uses flash technology to provide interactive drills and already offers a dozen languages, including Russian, Mandarin Chinese and Greek.  By next year, the site promises a dozen more languages, including Hebrew, Arabic, Korean, Polish and Cantonese Chinese. 

            “We’re excited to make foreign language learning accessible online to all people regardless of their economic resources,” says Jason Teshuba, ’00, president and CEO.  “Mangolanguages.com is the language lab of the future.” 

            Teshuba started the site with three associates—including fellow Spartans Mike Teshuba, ’01, and Mike Goulas, ’98.  He explains that they were involved in web design and development, database design, as well as e-commerce.  One product they sold was language tapes. 

            Influenced by the business book, Good To Great (2001), they decided to focus on their “Hedgehog Concept”—an area where they can become potentially the best in the world.  “We thought a lot about it,” says Jason.  “What can we be best at?”  Finally, they decided to merge their technical savvy with their passion for language education.  Mangolanguages launched in August. 

            “We have between 95,000 and 100,000 registered users,” says Jason.  “Most came on in a two week period in September, after we received rave reviews in blogs all over the Internet.”  Based in Novi, the company is planning to trot out many new programs and tools. 

            A native of West Bloomfield, Jason gives much credit to MSU.  “I loved MSU,” he says.  “Some of my best friends and my best experiences are from MSU.  And I learned a lot.  Professor Betty Cheng stood out.  She taught software engineering and was able to present a complex subject in a way that made sense.  She was inspirational.”